Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research turns 50

January 28, 2010 · Posted in Environment · Comments Off 

 


The National Center of Atmospheric Research in the early morning | flickr user Laertes

In the 1950′s, meteorologists across the nation lacked the efficient tools,  technologies, and computers they needed to perfect their art. They were in great need of a well-equipped science center where scientists specializing in all disciplines of meteorology could collaborate to create more accurate and sophisticated forecasts and  models.

In response to this need, the National Science Foundation backed the formation of the National Center for Atmospheric Research  in 1960, and Boulder was chosen as its home. Read more

Boulder scientist: Yes, it’s cold. Yes, global warming is for real.

January 7, 2010 · Posted in Environment · Comments Off 

 

Ice covers citrus in a grove in Lake Wales, Fla. on Wednesday.

It’s cold — tooth achingly, face numbingly frigid.

In Boulder, the average high temperature in December was about six degrees cooler than normal, and so far this season the city’s been pounded with 70 inches of snow, roughly twice the average.

But this doesn’t mean climate change isn’t affecting Colorado, threatening our snowpack, agricultural lands and water supply, according to local climate gurus.

From the Associated Press:

Beijing had its coldest morning in almost 40 years and its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap since 1981. And freezing weather is gripping the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches.

Whatever happened to global warming? Such weather doesn’t seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the Earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the cold snap doesn’t disprove global warming at all — it’s just a blip in the long-term heating trend.

“It’s part of natural variability,” said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. With global warming, he said, “we’ll still have record cold temperatures. We’ll just have fewer of them.”